Police Ask Soviet Diplomat to Appear For Questioning

July 21, 1987

TOKYO (AP) _ Police on Monday asked a Soviet trade representative to appear for questioning on suspected espionage activities and filed theft charges against a director of a Japanese company, a police official said.

The metropolitan police official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, identified the Soviet as Yurii Gennadjevich Pokrovskii and said he was a trade representative in Tokyo.

The police official said Pokrovskii also was asked to appear on suspicion of purchasing goods that were stolen.

He said Minoru Shimizu, director of the Tokyo Aircraft Instrument Company’s enterprise department, is suspected of providing Pokrovskii with information about flying-management systems and other aircraft instruments.

Kyodo News Service said the flying-management system involved is a device that guides aircraft to the best course and altitude according to the velocity of the wind.

The police official said Shimizu allegedly took the information without permission from his company and supplied it to Pokrovskii and Yurii Nnikolaevich Demidov, an official with the Soviets’ Aeroflot airlines who returned home on June 20, 1986.

Shimizu, who is still with Tokyo Aircraft Instrument, has been called in repeatedly for police questioning since early this month, according to local news reports, but he has not been arrested.

The police official said police filed charges of theft and professional embezzlement against Shimizu. Conviction could carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The Tokyo District Prosecutor’s office said it will conduct an investigation to determine whether to indict Shimizu on the police charges.

Pokrovskii and Shimizu had been meeting in restaurants and railway platforms two or three times a month from April 16, 1986 until early this month, the police official said.

He said it was believed the Soviets paid about $65,800 for the information they obtained.

Kyodo said Tokyo Aircraft Instrument produces equipment for military planes, including F-15 jet fighters and P3C anti-submarine patrol planes, for the Japanese defense agency. The news agency said the company is capitalized at $3.3 million and has 754 employees.